


Cleaning 221B

by GlitteringSnow



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-17
Updated: 2015-09-14
Packaged: 2018-01-12 20:12:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1198002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlitteringSnow/pseuds/GlitteringSnow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After losing her job as a waitress, Lydia Roberts applies for a cleaning job at 221B Baker Street. Too bad she didn't know what she was letting herself in for, least of all Sherlock Holmes. Eventual Sherlock/OC</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Baker Street

Chapter One 

Baker Street

I opened the door to my house, shaking my umbrella trying to get rid of any excess rain before stepping inside. I took my coat off and hung it up, putting the umbrella in the sink. My teeth chattered as I rubbed my arms trying to warm myself up before moving to put the kettle on.

It hadn't been the best day for me. I had lost my job. Again.

This time I could honestly say it wasn't my fault, my stupid co-worker had tripped, pushing me into a customer and I spilled hot chilli onto their lap. Quite clearly she should have been fired and not me, even though me and the customer had a massive arguement. I think he was over reacting.

I sighed before picking up the paper and flopping onto the couch. I turned my TV on not really listening to the news before opening the paper to the jobs section. Wincing at a few, such as dustbin lady, there was no way I was that desperate... yet. 

I reached out to the table to grab my cup of tea, eyes still scanning the paper. I found a few options, I doubted I would be able to work in a resturant so soon after my traumatic experience so I looked at the one option left for me.

Cleaning. 

There was an advert for a cleaner needed at 221B Baker Street. I could do that. I clean this place, I looked around to see all of my stuff spread out everywhere. I bit my lip, clearly I wasn't as good as I thought I was. No one really had to see my own place before I cleaned someone elses.

I picked up my phone and dialed the number, waiting slightly impatiently for someone to pick up.

"Hello?" An elderly woman's voice came through the phone.

"Hi, this is Lydia Roberts. I'm calling to enquire about the cleaning position needed at 221B Baker Street." She gave an excited gasp.

"Oh yes dear hello. My name is Mrs Hudson." I heard someone muttering something to her on the other end "If you'd like to come round tomorrow for a cup of tea and we can discuss the details."

"Will do, how does one sound?"

"Sound perfect dear, see you tomorrow." We both hung up. I grinned, walking into the kitchen to grab some ice cream and a spoon before retaking my place on the sofa. I grabbed the remote to change the chanel onto some movie that I had no idea of what the name was and dug into my ice cream.

I paused mid bite "Wait? Did that mean I was hired?" I shrugged it off before taking the bite. I would find out tomorrow.

The next morning, practically all of my clothes were on the floor. I'd never really gone for a cleaning post so I didn't know what was appropriate to wear. I held a black dress up to my body, shook my head and threw it on the floor. Definitely not, although that is something good to wear on a date. Not quite the impression I was hoping to give.

I found some black skinny jeans, threw on a red top with a black blazer and decided I looked smart enough for an interview but casual enough that it didn't look like I was trying too hard. I put on my black converse and decided I was ready.

I nodded, satisfied before turning back to the mess I'd made of my room. I winced, thinking I would clean it later, then scowled because I knew I wouldn't.

Oh to hell with it, I picked everything I could carry up and shoved it all back in my wardrobe, pushing the clothes when they tried to escape their fate. I quickly turned my back on it when I was content that they wouldn't all come tumbling out on me.

I'd sort it out later. I stopped, wondering where I'd heard that before before continuing towards the door. I took my phone out and googled Baker Street, seeing as I'd never been there before and it turned out it was only one street over, this was the perfect scenario for me, now I wouldn't have far to walk everyday.

I wouldn't describe myself as lazy. Others probably would.

I stepped out into the surprisingly sunny day, checking my phone to make sure I was on time, before making my way to Baker Street. It only took me five minutes to walk there, and there was a little cafe right next door, both things cheered me up immensely. I knocked on the door, completely missing the doorbells, and waited for it to be opened. 

It only took a few seconds to open and a man just taller than me with slightly graying hair stood in front of me. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, is Mrs Hudson in?" I asked.

"Yes, come in." He held the door open for me, I walked into the hall and my eyes immediately went up the stairs where I could hear what sounded like a violin playing. The man shuffled past me and knocked on the door to my right.

"Mrs Hudson? Someone's here to see you." The door opened and the elderly woman smiled at the man.

"Thank you John, that must be our new cleaner." She caught sight of me and came bustling over "Hello my dear, if you'd like to come in." I was led into her flat, everything inside seemed to have some sort of pattern on. I smiled at the homey feel of it, she reminded me of my nan.

"Tea?" I smiled, before sitting on the sofa.

"Yes please."

Mrs Hudson and I had a lovely chat about my new schedule. After clearing up the matter of payment and how much work is necessary we had to decide on how many day's I was coming by.

It was decided that I would come every other day but no Sunday's, we were both happy with this deal.

"Are you alright to start tomorrow?" Mrs Hudson lay her hand on my arm. I smiled and nodded, drinking the rest of the tea and standing up.

"I should get going, want to get here bright and early tomorrow." She chuckled and took my tea cup, taking it into the kitchen. I made my goodbyes and made my way over to the door, opening and closing it behind me I walked past the staircase, hearing footsteps behind me.

They stopped suddenly which prompted me to turn around. Standing there and staring at me was a man around 6ft, black curly hair and sharp cheekbones. He didn't say anything which made me uncomfortable.

"Um, hello?" He tilted his head and was seemingly about to reply but John, the man from earlier, came into view.

"Don't you dare Sherlock."

The now named Sherlock didn't look away from me as he replied "I have no idea what you're talking about John."

"Yes you do, you do and you're not going to." Sherlock sighed, placing his fingertips to the bridge of his nose before moving his eyes from me and brushing past.

"Sorry about him." John said, also brushing past me and both exited the house.

"Ah, I see you've met the boys upstairs." Mrs Hudson said as she saw me still standing there with no doubt a baffled expression on my face. I snapped out of it, giving her a confused smile.

"I think so."

I bid her another farewell before opening the front door of 221B Baker Street, I walked out into the still sunny day and heard the door shut behind me. Turning around I looked at the golden numbers hanging from the door, I could just tell that my time cleaning the place would be somewhat eventful. Even if it was because I had something nice to look at.

Sharp cheekbones indeed.


	2. First Day

Chapter Two

First Day

I woke up the next morning to a nice sized puddle of drool on my pillow, I wiped it off my cheek, checking the time on my phone before deciding to get up. I stretched my arms in front of me and rotated my wrists hearing multiple cracks.

I walked into the bathroom to get ready quickly, I had to be at my new work in an hour. I could manage that.

...

I was running late, I ran a brush through my hair quickly before practically sprinting out of my front door and towards Baker Street. I managed to check the time without damaging my phone as I ran, I could still make it. I pushed myself to the extreme and almost collapsed against the door of 221B. I breathed deeply as I tried to regain some composure and opened the door. I pushed my windswept hair behind my ears as I walked down the hall and knocked on Mrs Hudson's door.

She took a few seconds to open it, beaming when she saw me. "Lydia dear, so nice to see you. And you're right on time." I sighed with relief and smiled at her.

"No problem, Mrs Hudson. How are you?" I asked as I was ushered into her kitchen.

"I'm good my dear, you're such a polite young thing." She was cooking breakfast it seemed, the smell of a home cooked meal made my mouth water and before I knew it, I was eating a fry up.

I could have cried at how good it tasted, Mrs Hudson looked quite pleased with getting to feed me and I was more than happy to let her.

"I'm so glad you're not one of those girls that hardly eats." She told me, happily doing the washing up after I'd finished.

"Trust me, I eat everything and anything." I laughed, patting my full stomach before deciding that it was probably time for me to start work. I left Mrs Hudson to it and went to clean the basement out first, as I didn't want to wake the people upstairs.

It was very dusty, that was the first thing I noticed about the place. Mrs Hudson had followed me down and turned on the light.

"I'm looking to spruce this place up a bit, but I'm afraid I don't have the time to do it. It needs quite a bit of cleaning I'm afraid, there's so many odds and ends in here that I've forgotten about." I nodded and walked forward, hearing multiple creaks underneath my feet.

I walked over to one of the walls and winced at the horrible peeling wallpaper. "Did you want me to get this off as well?" I asked.

Mrs Hudson beamed "If you could dear. I'm hoping I could rent it out, but I don't think any one would want to live here with it in this condition." I nodded, I certainly wouldn't want to live here, it needed a hell of a lot of work.

She went to get me some of her cleaning supplies, leaving them at the bottom of my stairs and leaving me to get on with it. "Did you want a cup of tea, dear?" She shouted.

"Yes please" I was definitely going to need one, I sneezed as some of the dust went straight up my nose and decided to start with the hoover. By the time Mrs Hudson came back I was halfway through the carpet, there was such a thick layer of dust that underneath the gray carpet was actually quite a nice white colour. It was gross how grey the carpet actually was, but I was being paid to do this so I sucked it up and carried on.

I stopped the hoover to take a sip of my tea, wondering how Mrs Hudson got it so perfect. I dipped one of the biscuits she'd given me into the tea and was practically in heaven before realising that I had actual work to do and I couldn't afford to slack off.

It took me another ten minutes to get the carpet how I wanted it. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself before I heard the door at the top of the stairs open and closed, I ignored it thinking it was Mrs Hudson.

It most definitely wasn't.

It was the man from yesterday, cheekbones. My eyes lingered on them, as I recalled our brief meeting.

"Hello, can I help you?" I asked him, watching at he blinked at me. He stalked towards me, for some reason wearing a coat and scarf.

"Twenty to twenty five years of age, hair dyed, naturally blonde, you have no pets, live alone, have little contact with your family. You have an addiction to ice cream and tea, you do not enjoy cleaning but for some reason have taken this job. You must have been fired from your previous job and this is the first job you saw. You usually wear a ring on your right index finger but took it off because you didn't want to lose it." At this point my mouth was hanging open. "Your single, haven't had a boyfriend in a few years with your last cheating on you with your best friend. You have little to no social contact regularly and are wondering how I know all of this."

I nodded "It's simple, your overall face shape, skin and lack of wrinkles tells me your age, your roots are beginning to show, no fur on any of your clothes showing there are no pets-" He continued to rattle off all of these little facts about me, ignoring the the gobsmacked look on my face. He must have been used to it.

I snapped back out of when he asked me a question. "Sorry?"

He sighed impatiently "Did I get anything wrong?"

"Um, it was my sister, not my best friend." He tsked as though he was disappointed in himself and walked back up the stairs.

"There's always something." I heard as he closed the door behind him. If that wasn't the strangest thing I'd ever experienced than I don't know what is.

"Anyway..." I got back to cleaning. The floor was basically done and there wasn't much else I could do for the carpet without a cleaning agent. I brushed my hair out of the way and started on the wall.

I walked up the stairs to get a bucket of soapy water when I bumped into the man from earlier. I avoided his eyes and noticed the other man behind him. John and Sherlock, their names came rushing back to me.

"Hello there." I looked up and smiled at John.

"Yes, yes, this is the new cleaner. Lydia Roberts." Sherlock peered at me once more, before dismissing me. He quickly walked towards the door, opening it and leaving it open before hailing a taxi. John sighed and followed.

"Sorry about him." He called before shutting the door. I smiled as I remembered his saying the exact same thing to me yesterday.

I went to Mrs Hudson's and got my bucket, before deciding that I should probably clean their flat while they were out. Mrs Hudson thought this was a good idea as she led me upstairs.

"There may be a few of Sherlock's experiments lying around, he does enjoy his experiments." She told me while unlocking the door.

"Is he a scientist?" I asked, following her inside.

"No." She laughed "He's a detective." She beamed.

"Oh, that's interesting." I peered around the room, noting the skull on the mantlepiece and the violin in the corner. "Very interesting."

"Sherlock's bedroom is through there." She pointed to a door "And John's is upstairs." I nodded and went back downstairs to get my supplies. I started with the kitchen, Mrs Hudson chatted to me as I worked, which I appreciated.

I opened the fridge and screamed when there was a decapitated head staring back at me.

"Don't worry dear, that's just one of Sherlock's experiments." I gave Mrs Hudson a completely shocked look. "I did the same thing this morning." She admitted.

"One of his experiments." I breathed, slowly closing the fridge door vowing to never open it ever again. I closed my eyes "I can deal with that. As long as he's not a murderer" Mrs Hudson burst into laughter.

"No, no dear. Sherlock helps solve crimes, he doesn't commit them." I nodded, wondering where he would have gotten the head from.

I decided I didn't want to know.

"Does he often bring body parts home?" Mrs Hudson hummed and I guess she must have seen her fair share of them as she acted as if it was so normal. "Okay then."

Well, at least this job wasn't going to be boring, I thought as I cleared away some of the old food on the counter. Mrs Hudson had gone back to chatting away as if we hadn't discovered a head in the fridge. I put a load of dishes in the sink, putting the tap on hot and adding fairy liquid.

I waited for it to fill up, going around and adding more plates and cups found in the living room. These two men were really very messy, there were a lot of papers around the place, most with scribbles on. I tidied these up a bit before going back to the kitchen and turning the tap off.

"So how do you like John and Sherlock living here?" I asked, noticing how fond she seemed to be of them, even though they were quite bizarre.

"They are such dears, don't let the head in the fridge put you off." She told me, smiling at the thought of her boys. I smiled with her, I believed that she was a good judge of character so I would trust her judgement.

"Sherlock also occasionally shoots the wall, there are a few bits of plaster that need clearing up."

I take it back.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

"Hello and welcome to your first seminar, you should find on the floor under your seat two paddles." Mr Chetty held up his own as everyone reached under their seats. I shifted forwards until I was able to bend over to reach under my own seat, making awkward eye contact with Stuart as I did so. I rolled my eyes and sat back up, the two paddles safely in my hands. "You should find one is red and the other is green, please raise your hand if you do not have the two colours."

No one raised their hands so Mr Chetty nodded in satisfaction before pressing a button on the remote he held in his hand which started the presentation, the words WORKPLACE SEMINAR emblazoned on the first page.

"Now I recognise that Google is not the most convention workplace." I withheld a snort. "Having said that, we have rules. I am going to ask you a series of questions, you're going to raise the green paddle to indicate yes and the red paddle to indicate no. So let's begin." He moved from the centre to the side as he clicked the button again and the next page came up.

"Having a beer with your boss?" He read, immediately my hand with the red paddle shot up. I straightened my back as he looked over at me but apparently it wasn't me he was looking at. It was the two older men behind me. I didn't have to look around to know they were the only two who had gotten the question wrong. I cast a side glance at Stuart to find he was looking as bored as I felt, his phone was on his lap which meant that even he wasn't stupid enough to incur the wrath of Mr Chetty, something I was sure was something to be feared.

"Some of you are under 21." Mr Chetty continued, seemingly not going to tell the two men they were wrong or at least he was trying to ignore them.

I rolled my eyes when I heard the voice behind me speak up. He didn't know when to stay quiet did he? "Some of us aren't under 21, so if you want to grab a cold one with me, I'm happy to do that with you."

I sucked in my bottom lip, both irritated and trying not to laugh at this man's idiocy. Mr Chetty had narrowed his eyes and even though I knew he wasn't looking at me it still made me look down at my hands to avoid his gaze. "I will not be grabbing a cold one with you."

"You get high?" I took in a deep breath slowly, unsure if I'd heard what I'd actually heard.

If it was possible Mr Chetty's eyes narrowed even more, I couldn't actually tell if he was pissed off or amused, I believe it was a little of both. "I don't get high."

"Okay. I'm not judging. Just saying. People do it." I jumped when he then moved forwards to stick his face next to mine, both Stuart and I were extremely creeped out when he started talking. "That being said if you want something cold to drink we'll hook you up okay?"

I shook my head in disbelief. "What even?" I said slowly and quietly.

"I'm okay." Stuart spoke, trying not to make eye contact although we did exchange an incredulous look. "Thank you, just stop talking to me." He tilted his head away from the older man.

"What about you?" I opened and closed my mouth without answered, unsure if this was actually happening.

"She's fine too." Stuart nodded at me.

"I'm your Bill Holden in Stalag 17."

Stuart looked completely bemused, eyes narrowed and mouth open. "I don't even. I really don't get that reference." He crosses his arms and pursed his lips.

"Google it."

"Go it." Stuart rolled his eyes and when he saw that I was looking at him, he nodded his head to the two men behind us and I smiled uncomfortably, gently turning my head to peer at them. They didn't seem to think they didn't belong here. I shook my head and turned back to Mr Chetty as he turned to the next slide.

"Dating a fellow intern?" Again I raised the red paddle, not noticing the look I got from the boy next to me as he slowly and lazily lifted his own red paddle up. When Mr Chetty looked over in my direction again I knew the two men behind me had chosen the wrong answer once more. Didn't they understand the concept of lying? I sighed to myself and peered over at Stuart as Mr Chetty started talking to the older men once more. "This is Google, not "

It was strange that he was probably the closest thing to a friend that I had in this place.

"Taking food home from the office?" I raised the red paddle again, snorting softly when the same thing happened again.

"Are you having trouble with this Mr McManus?" I wondered which one of them that was. Thankfully my phone buzzed at this point which allowed me to tune out the rest of their painful conversation, I occasionally heard random foods listed but shoved that out of my mind as I started texting.

To: Me

From: Sasha

So, what's it like at Google? x

To: Sasha

From: Me

Boring. Two old guys made it into the program somehow and one of them is getting owned by the Head of the program lol x

I put my phone down in time to put up my red paddle again, luckily for me I was able to keep an ear out on the conversation so didn't make a huge fool out of myself although I doubt anyone would be as far on the bad side of Mr Chetty than this Mr McManus guy.

To: Me

From: Sasha

Aha, have you made any friends yet?

I rolled my eyes at the inevitable question and shoved my phone back into my pocket when Mr Chetty dismissed us, I pushed my hair out of my face and before I could get into a conversation with anyone I hurried out of the door. Since that was the only thing other than orientation on my list of things to do today I decided to go get some dinner before heading to the accommodation that Google had been generous enough to give us.

"I'm telling you man, we just have to surround ourselves with the right group of these little weirdo's-" I rolled my eyes at the old guys and pulled a jacket out of my bag, cursing when it pulled out the stupid noogler hat and a bunch of pens and papers. I stooped down to grab everything when another hand appeared out of nowhere to pick up my papers. I gathered the errant pens and stood, picking up the stupid noogler hat as well and looked up with a smile to thank the person for helping me.

"Really?" I groaned, smile forgotten as Graham stood in front of me, grinning with my papers trapped between his grubby hands. "I seriously feel like you're stalking me now." I reached a hand out for him to give me my notebook but he tilted his head and smiled instead.

"Is that how you treat someone who's being nice to you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes. I'm a horrible person, now give that back and leave me alone." I reached forwards to try and grab it but narrowed my eyes when he jerked backwards out of my reach, that stupid grin still firmly in place. "You know what, keep it." With a smile of my own I turned around and walked away. I wasn't going to spend more time than necessary trying to get back a stupid note book that I probably wouldn't even need.

I decided to order some take out to my accommodation, with that thought in mind I made my way over there. I pushed the door open and threw my keys on the bed, grabbing my phone and dialling the number of a pizza place that I had the leaflet to. Something I'd been handed by a random passer-by earlier.

Quickly placing my order I threw my phone gently on my bed and followed it, flopping onto my back and sighing loudly. Finally, I was alone and there were no creeps around to annoy me, this was the life. My heaven was interrupted by a knock on the door, I sat up and narrowed my eyes knowing that it was far too quick for the pizza to be here. I doubt they would even be allowed in the building, I'd most likely have to go down and pay.

Another knock sounded and I got up to peer through the peephole, not being able to recognise the person on the other side so I cautiously answered it.

"Hello?" I asked with a frown. The person looked up and I let out a slight sigh of relief when I recognised the person as Stuart, he'd angled his face so that his beanie blocked out his features and that's why I hadn't known who he was. "What do you want?"

He sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Listen about earlier, I promise I'm not a creep. You caught me at a bad time."

"A bad time?" I snorted. "Listen, I know I'm stunning and all but seriously? You have no game."

He reared back a bit with a frown, offended. "I have no game? I have game." He corrected strongly, leaning forwards to peer down at me.

"Yeah? Then how come you're not getting anywhere with me?" I smirked.

"Wow someone has a big ego." He commented, smirking back at me. "Who said I wanted to get anywhere with you?"

I raised an eyebrow. "You did. To your friend."

He blinked. "Oh yeah." He shuffled his feet in embarrassment. "Well I take it back."

I smirked again and stepped forwards, intruding on his personal space and peered up at him under my eyelashes. "Really?" I bit my lip and leant closer, he gulped, eyes flickering down to stare at my lips.

He bent his head to meet my lips with his own but I stepped back before he could, causing him to stumble. He blinked rapidly, his face becoming red as he saw that he'd been played.

"I somehow doubt that." My phone started ringing on my bed and I gave him one last smirk before bounding over to it, my pizza was here. I'd left the door open so Stuart was still there when I hung up.

"Where are you going?" He asked curiously, leaning on the door frame. I looked up at him before locking my door, making sure I had money with me.

"I'm going to get my pizza." I said slowly, leaving him there watching me as I walked away. I suppose I could get used to having him around.


	4. Aftermath

Chapter Four

Aftermath

Sherlock clearly was uncomfortable touching me, presumably not really knowing how to comfort someone, let alone after an explosion. They don't happen too regularly, I'd imagine. He rubbed his hands over mine quickly before taking them back, clearing his throat and going into the kitchen. I stared after him, rubbing my hands where his just were and heard him put the kettle on.

"Tea?" He didn't turn to face me as he asked.

I tried to say something, but my throat seemed to have closed up. I sniffled, feeling very sorry for myself when I realised that this was Sherlock's flat, someone could have been trying to kill him and here I was being so selfish only thinking about myself. I got off the chair and went into the kitchen, avoiding a few experiments that had fallen to the floor from the blast, it was at that moment that I realised that it was probably me that was going to have to clean all the rubble away. I shook this thought out of my head as I approached Sherlock.

I touched his shoulder gently, pulling away when I felt him tense. "Sherlock, are you okay? What was that explosion?"

He shrugged. "Could have been anything." He put two sugars in a cup and none in the other, filling both of with boiling water before stirring and pressing one into my hands. The warmth immediately seeped through my body and I felt better. I think I was in shock.

"It wasn't on purpose was it?" I chewed on my bottom lip, this small gesture caught Sherlock's attention, his eyes were drawn to my lips. "Sherlock?"

He looked away before taking a sip of his tea. "Of course not." He steered me back to the sofa, where I made myself comfortable before he picked up his violin. I watched, interested as he plucked a few strings. I lent my head back and closed my eyes, savouring the feeling of safety that Sherlock emitted and took a deep breath. The soothing sounds of the violin were sending me to sleep so I moved back on the sofa and curled up before giving into the unconsciousness.

The next time I woke up it was morning and it took me a second to remember where I was. I blinked when I saw there was someone in the flat that I had never seen before, he looked wealthy, his suit was neatly pressed and not a single piece was out of place. His umbrella was stood against the chair that he was sitting in as he sipped his cup of tea. He looked happy that I was awake.

"My dear, how are you?"

I just stared at him, wondering who he was and why he was making Sherlock agitated enough to make horrible noises on his violin. What used to be soothing was now extremely annoying. Sherlock locked eyes with me and pulled a face.

"Dear?" I looked back at the new man who was staring at me, a concerned look on his face that didn't reach his eyes.

"I, I'm fine." I sat up a bit straighter, rubbing my eyes. "Who are you?"

His eyes widened and he got up off his chair, coming over to me. "How terribly rude of me, I'm Mycroft." He smiled. "Of course we were going to meet later today but obviously there were some unaccounted for events that came to pass." He shook my hand while muttering to himself, throwing Sherlock a few unreadable looks. He let go of my hand and went back to his chair just as John came through the door.

"Are you alright?" He asked, seemingly breathless. "I saw the explosion on the news." I raised my eyebrows and peered out of the window, sure enough there were quite a lot of people down there. I wondered why none of them came up.

"They were here when you were asleep." I almost jumped at Sherlock's voice, it annoyed me that he could almost read my mind. He smirked at me from his chair, plucking another string on his violin before grabbing his bow.

John came over to me, knowing that he wouldn't be able to get anything out of Sherlock and looked me over, his doctor mentality coming through. "What happened?"

"Gas leak." Sherlock drawled, making me wince with as he made a terrible screeching sound with his violin.

John blinked. "Gas leak?" Sherlock nodded lazily.

It was at this moment that John noticed Mycroft. He nodded stiffly, not seeming to like the older man. I briefly wondered why but I realised that I really wanted to get out of here. There was only so much that I could take in one day and I really didn't want to break down in front of these guys.

"Hey. I'm just gonna, uh, head home." I said, grabbing Mrs Hudson's supply basket that I had been using before the explosion and picked up some of the rubbish that I would throw out later.

"Oh, of course. I'll walk you down." Sherlock jumped up, stored his violin behind his chair and walked out in front of me. I watched his back, slightly bemused. He didn't seem like the kind of guy that was nice enough to walk someone out, but I suppose that even he has to have some sort of empathy. Unless he wanted something. I slowly followed behind, watching as he bounded down the stairs.

He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked back at me as though me walking this slow was annoying him, which it probably was. I made it to the bottom of the stairs and glanced up at him. He looked at me, his eyes unreadable. I didn't know why he was looking at me so intensely so I coughed and moved away from him. I knocked on Mrs Hudson's door, wondering why she hadn't come up after the explosion.

"Oh, hello dear! I'm so glad you're alright, Sherlock told me you were just sleeping so I left you be. Would you like a cup of tea?" She then caught sight of Sherlock who had come to stand behind me. "Oh Sherlock! How are you? I've spoken to the nice man outside and he says that we won't have to pay for the damages, because it was the flat across the road that blew up." During her little speech she moved away from us and put the kettle on. I sighed, resigning myself to staying a bit longer and put the basket on the floor next to the cupboard and sat down at the table, Sherlock sliding into the chair opposite me.

"What?" I asked, feeling his eyes on me.

"I thought you were going home."

"I was but-" I was cut off by Mrs Hudson putting a mug in front of me. I gave it a pointed look for Sherlock's benefit and took a sip, it warmed me and I felt myself relax into the hard wooden chair.

"And of course, you can have the day off tomorrow dear. I'm ever so sorry for what you've been through today. Poor darling." She stroked the top of my head and looked down at me sadly. I wanted to feel annoyed by her pity but the prospect of a day off was too much to resist.

Mrs Hudson hugged me to her suddenly and I tensed, Sherlock watched this interaction avidly but his concentration was ruined when Mrs Hudson pulled him into the hug as well. It was a little awkward as our faces were extremely close to each other and her bosom. "You as well Sherlock, you were in the nasty explosion as well. Oh deary me, now I know I'm not your housekeeper but I'll come up later with a nice dinner for you. You're skin and bones." She continued her rant about his health as she held us towards her.


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Jim

When I got home I went straight for the fridge. My stomach had been begging me for food on the way home, I had decided to walk home despite the fact that my legs were still shaking, the sun was bright and warm and I decided it would be good for me.

I grabbed some chocolate and went to my sofa, feeling calmer already. Although Sherlock did make me feel safe there was nothing that compare with your own home. Something about this place just screamed comfort. I pushed my shoes off and wiggled my toes, grabbing the remote. I turned the tv on, switching the channel from the news which was showing the gas leak as they were calling it, and turned it on to something happier. Luckily there were a few new episodes of some of my favourite programs that I could catch up on.

This was my idea of a good day off, although it was likely that I would have to go to the supermarket later on, as there was literally nothing else worth eating in my fridge and I knew that I would probably be doing a lot of comfort or boredom eating throughout the day.

There was a knock on my door just as I was comfortable. I put the chocolate on the table, and shuffled over to the door. There was no one there, the only thing that showed any indications that I wasn't going mad and hearing things was a small note that was on the floor. I bent down to pick it up, frowning slightly before looking around for anyone that might have put it there.

Satisfied that no one was there, I shut the door and opened the note.

'Welcome to the game.' I furrowed my eyebrows, I didn't realise that I'd joined any games lately. I scoffed and through the note in the bin, disregarding the whole thing from my mind, wanting to just forget everything that happened to me today, or yesterday as it probably was now.

When I had finished my chocolate, I stared at the wrapper as though it had betrayed me. Although I was now really thirsty the chocolate had made me feel so much better, I sighed as I had to get up to fetch myself a glass of water, loving the feel of the cold liquid going down my throat.

My phone started to ring as I was putting the glass away, looking at the caller ID it said that Mrs Hudson was trying to get in touch with me. I sighed before answering, what happened to this being my day off?

"Hello?"

"Oh hello dear, I know I said this was your day off but I just need you to come in quickly, you see I gave you the only key to the flat downstairs and I need to get in." I rolled my eyes up to the ceiling before looking at my key chain, and sure enough there was the key she wanted.

"Yeah, I'll be over in about five minutes."

"Thank you dear." I sighed as she hung up, before grabbing the keys and heading out. I had to power walk to get there in the five minutes I'd promised but the exercise was doing me good. I felt more alert as I turned onto Baker Street, dodging a lot of police and people who were hanging around, some were even taking pictures of the house that had been destroyed, somehow I had missed the gaping hole that was now opposite my new workplace but I suppose that I wasn't really in the best mindset when I'd left earlier.

I knocked on the door and was practically pulled in by Sherlock. He let me in front of him so that I was leading the way to 221C. I glanced back as I heard him huff at me to move faster, I opened the door as quickly as I could, which proved difficult as the lock didn't want to shift, and moved out the way as Sherlock, John and the police officer Lestrade stormed down there.

I started as Mrs Hudson opened her door, beaming at me as she beckoned me in. I had no choice but to go in, that was until I heard Sherlock call my name. I gave Mrs Hudson an apologetic glance and made my way down the stairs.

"When was the last time you were in here?" He asked when I came into view.

"Must have been yesterday." I replied, looking from him to the random trainers that were on the floor. He crouched down on the floor next to them scrutinising every aspect and then looked around the room.

"I see you've been doing some redecorating." He commented.

I smiled. "Attempting." He nodded, about to ask something else but he was interrupted by the ringing of his phone, which I noticed had a pink case. He cautiously pressed answer and spoke after a slight hesitation.

"Hello?"

"Hello... sexy." It was a woman that answered and she sounded as though she was crying.

"Who is this?" Sherlock demanded.

"I sent you a little puzzle." She sobbed. I exchanged confused glances with John, both of us were completely bewildered, while Lestrade did not move his gaze from Sherlock. "Just to say hi."

"Who's talking?" Sherlock asked. "And why are you crying?"

"I'm not crying. I'm typing. And this stupid," there was a sob. "bitch is reading it out." The woman's voice shook as she spoke, clearly struggling to keep talking.

Sherlock mumbled something. "What?" John asked.

"Nothing."

"No, what did you mean?" John persisted.

Sherlock relented. "I've been waiting for this for some time."

Our attention was drawn back to the phone as the woman spoke again. "Twelve hours to solve my puzzle Sherlock, or I'm going to be so... naughty." She sobbed again as the line went dead. Sherlock tucked the phone into his pocket and without saying a word to us put some gloves on and picked up the trainers. He then left the room, leaving us all to wonder what we had just heard.

John recovered quicker than Lestrade and I, quickly following his friend up the stairs. I snapped out of whatever daze I was in as Lestrade tapped me on the shoulder.

"You okay?" He asked, looking at me concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I lied, of course I wasn't okay. First I went through a bombing or whatever it was and now some poor woman was being threatened. I turned and walked up the stairs hearing Lestrade behind me and left the house with a shouted goodbye to Mrs Hudson.

Right now all I wanted and needed was a nice sleep, nothing about threats or insults or near death experiences.

When I got home for the day, I decided to turn my phone off. I wanted no more stress today or really any other day. I began to wonder if me taking the cleaning job at Baker Street was the best decision I could have made, if I was still a waitress nothing like this would have happened to me. I felt a bit guilty being so self-absorbed and pitying when there was that poor woman out there somewhere.

There was a knock on the door that brought me back to the land of the living. I grumpily got out of bed and dragged myself over to the door, I scratched my head as I opened it. Standing outside of my flat was a young man I had never seen before.

"Hello?" I felt distinctly uncomfortable wearing my night wear, I reached behind me to grab a dressing gown which I quickly put on.

"Hi." He smiled. "My name's Jim and I'm afraid to say that I'm rather lost." He had a slight accent that I couldn't quite place so this made me believe that he was probably lost, even more so when he gave me a sheepish smile. "Would you mind if I used your phone?" I bit my lip not really wanting a stranger in my flat no matter how nice he seemed. He gave me an encouraging smile so with a shaky laugh I opened the door wider.

"Sure. Come in." Jim smiled strangely as he brushed past me, seemingly taking in every detail about my flat. I walked past him to grab the land line phone, passing it to him. He started dialing and I relaxed a bit, he would make his phone call and then he would leave.

He smiled at me when he saw me looking at him. I asked if he wanted a cup of tea and when he nodded his reply and started talking to someone on the other end of the phone I slipped into the kitchen and put the kettle on.

To be completely honest he kind of creeped me out, there was just something about him that gave me a bad feeling. He seemed alright but you could never tell. I peered round the door to see that he was still talking, this calmed me down a bit but I still jumped when the kettle made a noise that signaled it had finished boiling.

When I was pouring the water into two cups I felt a wave of unease pass over me. I put the kettle down and peered back into the living room. Jim wasn't there.

"Jim?" I called, feeling more and more uneasy. I looked around the place, breathing deeply to stop panicking. "Jim?"

"Yes?" I gasped and whirled around, my hand on my heart as I spotted Jim leaning casually against the wall behind me. I laughed nervously as he walked towards me, he must have seen me wandering around like an idiot.

"Um, tea's ready." I lied, speed walking into the kitchen to finish it. "Do you want any sugar?" I called.

"One please." I jumped again, spilling some of the sugar over the counter. The voice came from right behind me.

"Don't do that!" I giggled, slapping his chest to cover up any actual fear. I added his sugar and passed him the mug. There was strange glint in his eyes when he looked at me that I didn't like.

But I ignored it.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Annoyances

Jim left as soon as he finished his tea and I was glad to see the back of him. As I cleared up the mugs I spotted a piece of paper under Jim's. Picking it up I noticed that it was addressed to me.

I never actually told him my name so it was a bit worrisome. I unfolded the paper, noticing it looked very similar to the one I received earlier. I didn't know if I wanted to see what it said but my curiosity overrode my anxiousness and I looked down at it.

'40 hours.' It read. I didn't know what this meant so I threw it in the bin with the other note. One thing was for sure, Jim was never coming into my flat again. I went back to my bed, relishing in the feel of the soft sheets and comfortable pillows.

Waking up the next morning was painful. It seemed there were a few more bruises from the explosion that I hadn't noticed before. Seeing as I had to go to work today I hurried up with getting ready, not worrying about the bruising as I was more worried about being late.

I looked pretty bad in the mirror when I peeked so I put a fair bit of make up on. There was no good going to work if Sherlock was just going to point out all of my flaws like I'm sure he would if he had the chance. Probably not on purpose or out of spite but he didn't seem to have any social awareness or filter from his brain to his mouth. There was no good going outside looking like I'd been hit by a car, I thought as I applied the make up. Besides you never know who you might meet.

I hurried out of the flat, nearly colliding with someone who had passed my front door. "Sorry." I called without looking back. I soon reached my destination, knocking on the door to be let in by Mrs Hudson. She fussed over me as usual and I let her with a smile, I needed some comforting. It was soon time for me to do some actual work and it was with a hint of sadness that I left the poor landlady and climbed the stairs.

I walked in quite loudly to alert people that I was there and I noticed happily that the widow had been replaced. That was quick. There was still a lot of dust and glass on the floor so I set to work, ignoring Sherlock when he came down and sat on the sofa, watching me clean up.

"You're hurt." He commented after a few seconds. I looked up at him from where I was rearranging some of the books that had fallen.

"What?"

"You're hurt." He repeated, his eyes sweeping over my body. "You keep clutching your left side. Seemingly unconsciously as you haven't noticed it until now of course. I assume it was from yesterday." I looked down to see that I was in fact holding my side.

"I suppose I'm a bit bruised." I admitted, looking up to find that Sherlock had come closer to me. He kneeled in front of me, pressing his hand against my side. I immediately jerked backwards and hit my head on the wall behind me. I felt my face reddening and gulped. He pressed a bit harder and I gasped as pain shot through my side.

I grabbed his hand and looked at him, his eyes had narrowed in on my hand on his as soon as I had touched him and I gulped once more. His long fingers reached around my wrist, fingertips resting on my pulse point which I'm sure had increased. He stared at me, his blue eyes piercing and I felt the urge to lean forward as he tilted his head. I broke out   
of the trance when John announced his arrival as he came down the stairs, yawning.

Sherlock moved away from me quickly, picking up one of his books and moving in onto the bookshelf behind me.

He stood up to his full height. "Come along John, we have work to do."

John gave him an incredulous look. "You're not even dressed." He pointed out. "And neither am I."

Sherlock rolled his eyes. "How dull."

I smiled at their interaction, it amused me to see how different the two men were. Sherlock caught my smile and seemed confused by it although he chose not to say anything.  
"Do you two want any breakfast?" I asked, getting up from the chair where I'd been sorting through rubble and books.

"I don't eat while on a case." Sherlock informed me as John said he would like some.

"That can't be healthy." I remarked, looking him over before realising what I was doing and hurried off into the kitchen.

Sherlock and John left as soon as they had dressed which left me with all the mess in the living room. I decided the best way to go about it was to attack. Mrs Hudson came up when I was nearly finished, chattering on about the next door neighbours. I indulged her as she rambled on, humming and nodding in all the right places.

"And that's when she said that he wouldn't get the job." I gasped along with her, heading over the grab a dustpan and brush, satisfied that nothing else of importance was hiding in the dust, before crouching down and starting to clean the dust and glass up.

"That explosion made things so much harder for me." I moaned. Mrs Hudson tutted beside me, looking at all the mess.

"Why don't you take a break dear?" It was the most wonderful thing I'd ever heard her say. I straightened up, hearing my knees click as I did so.

I sat on the sofa, standing up again as I felt something beneath me. I pulled Sherlock's dressing gown from underneath me and felt the silk. It was very nice, I might just have to get one for myself. I folded it up and put it to one side as Mrs Hudson came back.

She happily rambled on, talking about a whole lot of nothing. She handed me a cup of tea which I took thankfully.

"Thanks Mrs Hudson." I took a deep gulp, not caring how it burnt my tongue.

"Of course I distinctly remember Sherlock was using that cup for an experiment with an eyeball the other day." I spat out some of my tea back into the cup. Mrs Hudson gave me a comforting look. "Of course it's been cleaned since then." I grimaced and set the cup down. For some reason that didn't give me much of an incentive to drink from it again, I made a mental note to never have anything consumable here ever again.

I looked cautiously into the kitchen. "He doesn't have any more experiments lying around does he? I mean, I remember the head in the fridge." I shuddered.

"I'll just pop and see if he's gotten rid of those thumbs yet." She said this as casually as if she was talking about gone off milk.

"Yes, the thumbs." I breathed.

The rest of the day wasn't so bad, after the mess in the living room was cleared I just had to clean the two bedrooms. Mrs Hudson said I'd have to wait and see what could be moved in the kitchen because God forbid we move one of Sherlock's experiments.

John's room was just as it was the last time I'd been here. I found a couple of tickets to what looked like a Chinese circus on the floor, I put them on his bedside table just in case he needed them although the date had passed.

Sherlock's room was also similar although there was a strange feeling that I was being watched. I looked around the room, in the corners and in the drawers but I couldn't find anything so I imagined that I was just being paranoid.

"Mrs Hudson?" I called.

"Yes dear?"

"Did you want me to do the basement?" I started walking down the stairs.

"If you could dear, there's ever so much to do if I ever want to rent the place out. I suspect it's the mould, I remember when I had a basement flat. It was the early years of my marriage-"

I smiled as she went off on another tangent, this was obviously something she did a lot if today was anything to go by.

I unlocked the door remembering yesterday when I had been called in to open it, there was no sign of the trainers on the floor or that anything was out of place. I could see and feel the damp that Mrs Hudson was talking about but I didn't really know what would help with that so I set about ripping more wallpaper off. I imagined that I would be taking a lovely hot bath when I got home, something to help the bruise that had irritated me ever since Sherlock had mentioned it earlier.

I lifted one side of my shirt up to try and peer down at it, but unfortunately at that moment I could hear John and Sherlock come home.

I didn't want them to see my bruise although Sherlock obviously knew it was there. It would have to wait.

I winced as I stretched too far. Maybe I should get a professionals opinion on it, I thought about asking John but then I thought about Sherlock, for some reason I didn't want him to see it.

I'd go to a different doctor then. Mind made up, I got back to work


End file.
